The site was a commercial orange grove at Moree NSW, where Sumitomo Chemical Australia treated a single row of trees with a new experimental mycorrhizae inoculant, EndoMaxx. Treatment with EndoMaxx occurred at transplanting and the full block was otherwise treated with the grower’s standard practice.
On 19/01/2020, drone images were acquired at the site using a multi-spectral sensor and RGB camera. Images were captured without issues and were of diagnostic quality. Images were then uploadeed to a post-processing platform (Aerobotics) for analysis to determine:
- Health
- NDVI
- Tree Height
- Tree Area
- Tree Width
- Tree Volume
The sample size was approximately 15 hectares of orange trees. Within the sample, 5,875 trees were analysed with 27 trees missing (areas where trees had not grown). The missing trees were excluded from analysis. Trees were grouped by:
- Treated trees (n=140)
- Non-Treated Trees (n=5,452)
- Excluded Trees (These were the rows on either side of the treated trees to avoid contamination of the results
The Treated Trees performed better in all categories with a lower standard deviation.